So after trying it out for a bit in the closed beta testing, here is what the game is like so far!

Gameplay: The game is VERY similar to other card games such as Magic Cards. They have added a couple extra features to it that other card games don’t have, and of course it is online and has animated graphics for attacks, spells, etc.… It is usually very fast paced and has a timer set for those who take too long, take too long… miss your turn. The Heroes you can be are:

Practice Play Mode: This is exactly as it sounds. You get to use your premade decks and challenge yourself against computer opponents. There is a way to get gold by doing this, but I will explain that in the gold section.

Play Mode: This is the main part of the game. In play mode you are able to create your own decks out of cards you have acquired and challenge your deck against other players in the game. Every time you win a match you get a higher ranking that can show you skill to others with a badge.

Arena Mode: This is a new spin on this kind of card game. In this mode you do not get to use your gained cards or your created decks. Instead, this mode starts off with you picking 1 out of 3 possible Heroes to choose from. Once you choose your hero, you then get 3 cards to pick 1 from over and over until you complete a full deck of 30 cards. You then will use this randomly created deck to test your skill against other players in the Arena. You are only able to lose 3 matches, and the goal is to win as many as you can before you lose 3 matches. The higher amount of wins you have in the end, the larger your reward will be. Rewards can be: Free cards, extra Arcane Dust to craft with, bonus gold, and 1 free pack of cards. The arena does cost 1.99$ US to play unless you save up your gold and pay to play the arena for 150 gold.

Quests/Gold: There are daily quests that you can complete to get extra gold a day. You can save them up and complete up to 3 at the same time, however you are only granted 1 additional a day. The bonus to this is if you miss getting only for 1-3 days, you will come back online with the ability to make enough gold for a free deck of cards or arena match. You can also get 10 gold for every 3 matches you win in the Regular play mode, not in the Practice or Arena. You can also get gold for completing achievements, the ones that are known so far are:

First Blood

Complete a game in Play or Arena mode.

1 Card Pack

The Duelist

Play 3 games in Play or Arena mode.

100 Gold

Ready To Go

Unlock every hero.

100 Gold

Level Up

Get any class to level 10.

1 Card Pack

Enter The Arena

Enter The Arena

1 Arena Credit

Crushed Them All!

Defeat every expert AI hero

100g

Got the Basics!

Every hero to 10 (Collect all basic cards)

100g

Crafting Time

Disenchant a card.

95 Dust

Chicken Dinner

100 wins in any mode

300g

Beta Hero!

Purchase a pack or arena ticket with real money during closed/open beta

golden Gelbin Mekkatorque card

Big Winner

Win 1000 games

300g

Mrglglglgl!

Collect all murloc cards

Old Murk-Eye card

Arrrrrr!!!

Collect all pirate cards

Captain’s Parrot card

Golden Mrglglglgl!

Collect all Golden Murloc cards

Old Murk-Eye card (golden)

Golden Arrrrrr!!!

Collect every Golden Pirate card

Captain’s Parrot card (golden)

One of Everything

Collect every card in the expert set

100g

My Collection: This is where you will create your own customizable decks and craft new cards. Cards you have been awarded from card backs, levels, and crafting can be used to build your own decks for your heroes up to a maximum of 9 customized decks. In the crafting mode, you can disenchant extra cards (since you can’t use more than 2 of the same card) into Arcane Dust to craft a new card you need/want. This does take some saving though. Common cards can be crafted for less than 100 Arcane Dust, but the rarer the card the more dust you will need, some can be over 1300 dust. Since you only get on average 5 dust per disenchant this can take a while, but gold cards and rarer cards will give more dust when disenchanted.

Gold: Gold in the game is another kind of currency if you do not want to pay for it with cash. Instead of paying $2.99 (2) US – $49.99 (40) US for card packs, you can purchase a single pack (1) for 100 gold. This sounds like a good idea, but most people would rather save the extra 50 gold and spend 150 gold on the arena, since even if you get 0 wins and 3 loses in the arena you will still get a card pack.

First thoughts: So that is basically the game wrapped up. It is actually VERY well done, and I find it harder and harder to put it down. They really made the game just as fun as people were expecting it to be with a lot of added features and perks. The skills on the cards are very versatile and allow for many different ways to try creating your perfect deck.

Keep checking for more posts by us on Hearthstone and soon we will have some videos of the gameplay as well! Next post we will talk about the actual fights in the game and more on the cards abilities.